The disclosures herein relate generally to computer systems and more particularly to an apparatus for providing docking station assisted cooling of a portable computer.
With the increased performance capabilities of portable computers, they are becoming more popular for use in an undocked mode as well as in a docked mode in which they are engaged with a docking device such as a port replicator, a docking station or other type of similar device. While docked, a portable computer is typically positioned under a monitor stand with its display in the closed position. This orientation decreases the ability of the portable computer to passively shed heat, resulting in increased temperatures. Accordingly, it becomes essential to use alternate techniques to dissipate the heat generated by the components within the computer during operation in a docked mode.
Dissipation of the heat is necessary to insure that the temperature of certain components remains within their allowable operating temperature. This is especially true with respect to heat generating components such as the processor, video controller and memory. These components could fail prematurely or malfunction if they exceed their allowable operating temperature.
Some docking apparatus includes a cooling apparatus that draws air along the surfaces of the portable computer. This method uses forced convection to improve the thermal dissipation by reducing the skin temperatures and internal temperatures. However, due to flow conditions such as laminar boundary layers, the effectiveness of these types of cooling systems is limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,101 discloses a docking base for a portable computer. The base includes a hollow housing with a generally horizontal support portion for supporting the portable computer thereon and a generally upright portion disposed on a rear end of the support portion. The upright portion of the housing includes a front wall that is formed with a vent hole to be juxtaposed with a heat-dissipating fan unit on the rear side of the portable computer so that hot air from the fan unit can enter into the housing. The upright portion is further formed with an exhaust hole to prevent the hot air from being trapped in the housing. A conduit unit is mounted in the upright portion of the housing. The conduit unit has an inlet end adjacent to the vent hole and an outlet end adjacent the exhaust hole. The conduit unit guides the hot air that enters the vent hole out of the housing via the exhaust hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,292 discloses a docking station that has a removable guide and support shelf along which a portable computer may be slid into operatively coupled engagement with the docking station. When docked, the computer rests atop three mutually spaced vertical projections formed on the top side of a base wall portion of the shelf. This forms a cooling air passageway between the bottom of the computer and the top side of the shelf. A fan in the docking station draws ambient air through this passageway and then flows the air downwardly through cooling slots in the shelf before exhausting the air back to ambient. The fan also draws ambient cooling air downwardly through a gap between the rear side of the docked computer and a facing connection area of the docking station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,615 discloses a notebook computer that has a base housing in which a heat-generating component is located. A lid housing is pivotally secured to the base housing for pivotal movement relative thereto between open and closed positions. A relatively thin, hollow, flexible heat exchanger has a first section positioned in the base housing in heat exchange contact with the heat-generating component, a second section disposed in the lid housing in heat exchange contact therewith, and a flexible third section through which the interiors of the first and second sections are communicated. During operation of the computer, a small motor-driven pump re-circulates a cooling liquid through the heat exchanger in a manner causing heat from the heat-generating component to be transferred to liquid in the first heat exchanger section, be carried therewith through the third section into the second section, and be transferred via the second section to the lid housing portion for dissipation therefrom to ambient. In an alternate embodiment of the computer, heat from the third heat exchanger section is transferred to an exposed metal heat exchanger block in the computer to permit heat dissipation from the closed computer when it is operatively inserted into a docking station.
Faster processors and increases in the density of electronics inside notebook computers are constantly pushing the limits of portable computer cooling systems and components. Excessive internal temperatures can adversely affect processor performance. However, when the processor becomes too hot, most processors are programmed to throttle their operating speed to limit heat creation and reduce the potential for thermal destruction.
Thermal solutions for portable computers are constrained by size, cost and power consumption. As the thermal demands increase, it becomes increasingly difficult to actively dissipate the heat through the thermal solution. As a result, a large portion of the heat is dissipated passively through the outside surface (skin) of the notebook. The resulting high skin temperatures are undesirable for the comfort of the user.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus to assist in the cooling of a docked portable computer that overcomes the shortcomings associated with previous dock assisted cooling techniques.